Bill Text: NY A00609 | 2015-2016 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Requires hotels and motels to notify employees of the presence of bedbugs on the premises; requires the development and administration of training on methods and procedures for the eradication of bedbugs upon hiring and each year thereafter.

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 16-2)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2016-01-06 - referred to health [A00609 Detail]

Download: New_York-2015-A00609-Introduced.html

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                           S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
       ________________________________________________________________________
                                          609
                              2015-2016 Regular Sessions
                                 I N  A S S E M B L Y
                                      (PREFILED)
                                    January 7, 2015
                                      ___________
       Introduced  by  M. of A. ROSENTHAL, DINOWITZ, BROOK-KRASNY, COOK, ROBIN-
         SON, GLICK, HIKIND, ABINANTI, HOOPER -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A.
         ABBATE, ARROYO, CRESPO,  CROUCH,  ENGLEBRIGHT,  GOTTFRIED,  McDONOUGH,
         PERRY,  SCHIMEL,  TITONE -- read once and referred to the Committee on
         Health
       AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to  requiring  hotels
         and motels to notify employees of the presence of bedbugs on the prem-
         ises  and  requires  the development and administration of training on
         methods and procedures for the eradication of bedbugs
         THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
       BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
    1    Section  1.  Subdivision 1 of section 1347 of the public health law is
    2  amended to read as follows:
    3    1. All departments and  boards  of  health  and  the  commissioner  or
    4  commissioners  thereof shall have the power to enforce the provisions of
    5  sections thirteen hundred forty-five to thirteen  hundred  [forty-seven]
    6  FORTY-EIGHT, inclusive, of this [chapter] TITLE.
    7    S  2. Section 1348 of the public health law is renumbered section 1349
    8  and amended to read as follows:
    9    S 1349. Hotel sanitation; application of article.   The provisions  of
   10  sections  thirteen  hundred forty-five to thirteen hundred forty-seven[,
   11  inclusive,] of this [chapter] TITLE, shall not apply to cities having  a
   12  population of one million inhabitants or over.
   13    S  3. The public health law is amended by adding a new section 1348 to
   14  read as follows:
   15    S 1348. HOTEL SANITATION; BEDBUG NOTIFICATION AND TRAINING.  1. HOTELS
   16  AND MOTELS SHALL NOTIFY EMPLOYEES OF THE  PRESENCE  OF  BEDBUGS  ON  THE
   17  PREMISES AND SHALL SPECIFY WHICH ROOMS ARE INFESTED.
   18    2.  NOTIFICATION  SHALL  BE  MADE  PROMPTLY FOLLOWING THE DISCOVERY OF
   19  BEDBUGS ON THE PREMISES.
        EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                             [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                  LBD04074-01-5
       A. 609                              2
    1    3. IN CONCERT WITH THE DEPARTMENT, HOTELS AND MOTELS SHALL DEVELOP AND
    2  ADMINISTER BEDBUG TRAINING THAT SHALL BE PROVIDED TO EMPLOYEES  WHO  MAY
    3  BE EXPOSED TO BEDBUGS AS A PART OF THEIR DAILY ACTIVITIES.
    4    4.  TRAINING  SHALL  BE  ADMINISTERED  WITHIN  A REASONABLE TIME AFTER
    5  HIRING AND ONCE AGAIN EACH YEAR THEREAFTER.
    6    5.  TRAINING  SHALL  INCLUDE  BEDBUG  IDENTIFICATION,  PROCEDURES  FOR
    7  REPORTING  INFESTATIONS TO PEST MANAGEMENT AND TREATING INFESTATIONS, AS
    8  APPROPRIATE.
    9    6. UPON DISCOVERY OF BEDBUGS, THE HOTEL OR MOTEL SHALL TAKE  THE  ROOM
   10  OR  AREA  OUT  OF  SERVICE,  BUT  NO ITEMS SHALL BE REMOVED UNTIL A PEST
   11  CONTROL MANAGEMENT COMPANY HAS INSPECTED THE AREA.
   12    7. FOR PURPOSES OF THIS SECTION:
   13    A. "HOTEL  AND  MOTEL"  SHALL  MEAN  ESTABLISHMENTS  DISTINGUISHED  AS
   14  HOTELS, MOTELS, BUNGALOW COLONIES, OR ANY OTHER ESTABLISHMENT COMPARABLE
   15  OR  EQUIVALENT  TO ANY OF THOSE PREVIOUSLY MENTIONED. THE TERM SHALL NOT
   16  INCLUDE THOSE PLACES OR FACILITIES NOT  HAVING  THE  GENERAL  CHARACTER-
   17  ISTICS  OF A MOTEL OR HOTEL AS THAT TERM IS GENERALLY UNDERSTOOD AND THE
   18  COMMISSIONER SHALL HAVE THE POWER TO EXEMPT FROM THIS SECTION A PLACE OR
   19  FACILITY THAT IS NOT WITHIN THE INTENT OF THIS DEFINITION OF A MOTEL  OR
   20  HOTEL.
   21    B.    "EMPLOYEE"  SHALL  MEAN ANY PERSON EMPLOYED FOR HIRE THAT MAY BE
   22  EXPOSED TO BEDBUGS AS A PART OF THEIR DAILY ROUTINE. SUB-CONTRACTORS AND
   23  INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS WHO WORK TWENTY  HOURS  OR  MORE  PER  WEEK  ARE
   24  DEEMED "EMPLOYEES" FOR PURPOSES OF THIS SECTION.
   25    S 4. This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after
   26  it shall have become a law; provided, effective immediately, the commis-
   27  sioner of health is authorized to promulgate any and all rules and regu-
   28  lations  and  take any other measures necessary to implement this act on
   29  its effective date, on or before such date.